Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Upgraded at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

DG has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on Dollar General from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Dollar General from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Dollar General from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $117.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.43.

Dollar General Trading Up 5.9%

Shares of DG stock opened at $132.67 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.24. Dollar General has a 1-year low of $66.43 and a 1-year high of $135.08. The firm has a market cap of $29.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.27.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $10.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.03% and a return on equity of 18.59%. Dollar General’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. Dollar General has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 6th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 2nd quarter valued at about $101,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Dollar General by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,817,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,067,403,000 after purchasing an additional 384,447 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Dollar General by 483.1% in the second quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,503,000 after buying an additional 25,377 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in Dollar General by 1.6% during the second quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 155,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,760,000 after buying an additional 2,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Dollar General by 228.3% during the second quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 34,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,963,000 after buying an additional 24,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Company Profile

Dollar General Corporation, a discount retailer, provides various merchandise products in the southern, southwestern, midwestern, and eastern United States. It offers consumable products, including paper and cleaning products, such as paper towels, bath tissues, paper dinnerware, trash and storage bags, disinfectants, and laundry products; packaged food comprising cereals, pasta, canned soups, fruits and vegetables, condiments, spices, sugar, and flour; and perishables that include milk, eggs, bread, refrigerated and frozen food, beer, and wine.